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The biggest blessing in my life is the gift of my four wonderful boyssss. I was a stay at home mom up until a few years ago and now I am happily employed in the education field and a single mom raising the last of my four, he is a dream. I love working with children, photography and of course scrapbooking. Scrapping has become my therapy and I am so thankful that GOD has given me this gift.

My Blog Has Attitude Award

Stylish Blogger Award

The Versatile Blogger

B 4 blessings.....my 4 boyssss

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Thank you just doesn't seem enough to say to my sweet friend Sandi(CelticWoman)!Those of you that stop by often know that Sandi hosted several of my students on her beautiful Haiku Tuesday post. So, deserving much thanks herself what does she do? Sandi sends these beautiful handmade gifts to me!!!!! Just look at this lovely card and note holder I received in the mail.

I have to show you the inside of the card because Sandi is an artist in every sense of the word. She really has me seriously thinking about investing in these Copic products so beautifully Incorporated into her projects. She provided me with a website for the best prices and I'm sure going to take a close look at it, clickHERE if you'd like to see as well.

The papers and colors on these wonderful handmade gifts are simply gorgeous...I know you all know that the pictures are just not doing them justice.

Isn't this embossed butterfly just the bomb? The quality of Sandi's work is certainly a reflection of the the quality of her spirit. Thanx so much Sandi.....you are a true gift!

Saturday, January 30, 2010

I'm going to have another Great Niece at the end of February...so exciting....today was the baby shower for my Niece-In-Law and my first attempt to create a diaper cake! My sisters, niece and I all contributed items to the cake and I spent most of the morning assembling it in time for the shower this afternoon. The top three layers are all diapers and the bottom layer is made up of onesies...a mother's fave, right? Well this little one will have enough to take here through college....LOL! I used 2 different wide ribbons to go around the top three layers, the bottom layer actually has three different ribbons. I also added some headbands around the middle of the top three layers and some strands of white puff balls at the bottom of each layer.

I used my cricut to cut the leaves and the butterflies. The leaves are from A Child's Year and the butterflies are from Stamping. I added lots of stickles and the butterflies also have some bling and pearl paint accents. I found the little white flower stems on clearance @ M's. The pics really make the cuts look washed out but they have been chalked as well and look much better in person.

You can never have too many binkies....am I right?

Lots of little baby girl goodies tucked in around the cake....the little socks are tied with curling ribbon.

I am very happy with the way this turned out and given the opportunity would surely do another one. It was a hit at the shower except that Mommy did not want to take it apart....LOL...but we promised her the cutest onsies were in the center so she would have to! Like a little hidden treasure!

Friday, January 29, 2010

Happy Friday! What a great day...not only is it reveal day at SOUSbut here in SE KS we have a snow day! One of the many rewards of working in the field of education....LOL!This wonderful sketch is by Aymee Gandy. When I saw the layout of the pics I knew I wanted to do something unique with it. This is a pic of my son sitting in a Japanese garden. I printed it @ 8x10 and then cut the photo apart cutting the sizes appropriately, matted each of them, added foam tape doubling the thickness on the largest photo. I love the finished effect of the photo! These are once again beautiful papers by K&Co from the Que Sere Sere stack.

The tree is from Happily Ever After. I added some white pearl paint to the center of each flower. I love using different textures in my projects and adore the look of fiber so I have wrapped some around the bottom of the page.

The flower is once again Happily Ever After, bamboo and leaves are from Life's A Beach. The leaves are cut in two sizes and the layer is set a bit off, I liked that look. I cut the circle from Plantin in two sizes...one in brown one in the patterned paper...distressed the edges a bit with an emery board as well.

The title is from Life's A Beach...I cut some xtra bamboo leaves and added those to the title cut. My dragonflies are from Stamping and are cut in both brown and patterned papers with pearl paint added to the body.

I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog and will stop back by soon...I love all the wonderful comments you leave...they truly brighten my day...thanx for that!

Click HERE to check out the sketch and the creations of the other talented ladies, and if you have time...we'd love to have you join in on the fun!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

I decided to try one of the tp albums that are so popular right now so here is my take on this unique project! The papers are K&Co and Paperbilites. I love these roses, they are so fun and easy to make so a big thanx to Gabi and Tim Holtz for the great tutorials. The gold garland I found on clearance and took apart for craft project. I've added lots of fiber and ribbon and a little prima flower. I distressed the memories tag and attached it with some mini brads.Stamping has some fun borders which I used for the heart and inserted 3 tags to hold pics...I embellished them with the flourish from Home Decor. The beautiful bridal ribbon always adds some fun, K&Co stickers, a little 'LOVE' heart charm, and the xo's from sweethearts...you can see the back of the pink heart paper clip attached to the tag....LOTS of bling on these pages. All of my tag cuts are from my Sweethearts cartridge.

I used some of the left over hearts from the border cut, added a circle from Stamping, and a butterfly sticker. Another fab rose accented with stickles...the key and heart are also from Sweethearts some rub on transfers by Could 9 add a little more detail.

The 'love' sicker is another K&Co find. I made some page jewelry from charms and wire that reads 'be here now'...the tag on the right will lift out of the window...more room for pics or space to journal. The little angel is a button. I used some ribbon to attach the button to the flower on the opposite side of the tag.

The butterflies are all from stamping...I used the border and then added some smaller cuts from book pages. The cuts from Home Accents on the tags say 'live, laugh, love'. I added some puff paint to the larger butterflies...not thrilled with how it dried but it will do for now.

The back of the book has another sticker with xoxoxo's and reveals the back of the last tag with the 'adventure' 3D sticker and some pretty off white lace.

The tags are very simple as I wanted to leave room for pix and to journal...hope you enjoyed my take on the tp album...now start collecting those empty rolls and create some beautiful fun!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

I am so blessed to have so many friends through my blogging experience. One of those special people has done something so generous for the students I work with...

Most of you know that I am an ESOL Paraprofessional. I work with students K-5 and adore my students and my job. I work with a remarkable woman, Melinda. Melinda is the ESOL teacher, she has a huge heart and is so very important to our students success not only in education but in all aspects of their well being.

Of course I have to say that the children are the most important part of this program. They bring a light to my life that is beyond words. They remind me daily of what is most important with their smiles, hugs and constant encouragement. I hope someday they will realize what an inspiration they are to me and what an impact they have on my life.

Sandi (aka CelticWoman) is an incredibly talented and generous soul. Her blog is about creation from within and without. She shares a piece of herself with us through her talent in crafting and her remarkable spirit. Sandi has added some wonderful bloggy fun with her recent addition of Haiku Tuesday. When I told Sandi that my 4th and 5th graders had recently done a poetry section and written a Haiku she did not hesitate to send an email and ask for some of those to highlight on her blog. I am not sure that Sandi fully understands how much this meant to the students, Melinda and myself. The children are super excited about this awesome opportunity....they are published authors thanx to Sandi!!!! What an awesome gift to give to these wonderful kiddos.

The students are in the process of creating their own blog in the classroom (uber fun). We will be publishing all of their Haiku projects on that blog. If you have a moment pop in and see what the students have done so far. Click here to visit our classroom blog. I hope you will hop on over to Paper Trail and take a look not only at Sandi's creations....but at the creations of the students who's lives she has so graciously touched.

I also want to send out big cyber hugs to the fantastic 4th and 5th grade teaching team who made this a fun, creative, learning experience for all of the students. I thank each of them for their dedication and determination. Our students and district are fortunate to have educators who care so much.

We will be sharing any comments left with the students.

Haiku-A Japanese lyric verse form having three unrhymed lines of five, seven and five syllables, traditionally invoking the feeling of nature or seasons.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Lisais one of the most phenomenal paper artists out there in scrapland. I love her work and love to look to her for inspiration. While doing my little blog hop to see what's been up with everyone this am I was so touched by this post I could not help but share it. It's about sharing our gifts and the originality of projects....I hope you will take a look at it. Lisa is a blessing to this scrappy world.That said....if anyone wants to 'scraplift' anything they see of 'mine' I would be nothing but honored.

Friday, January 22, 2010

TGIF....and I mean that with all my heart...so happy to see the end of the week. Today is reveal day at SOUS and we have another Beggahuna sketch that is just fabulous.....I adore her work. This page is dedicated to my scrappy girls....Leah, Sandi and Nanne. Since they are a very important part of my life I realized I had to do a scrappy tribute to them. This way my family will know how much I enjoyed being a part of this fabulous DT and blog.

My flowers are the cut from Sweethearts cart...I cut both paper and tulle and alternated the layers, they are fastened with a brad in the center. I would suggest a new mat when cutting the tulle. I used a 2 1/2, 2 1/4 and 2 inch cut of the flower. I used the large cut in paper for the base and a med cut in paper in the middle...the tulle is cut 2 times in all sizes and make up all the other layers. My sweet little birds are from Lyrical Letters and sport a flourish tail from Home Decor. I added a pearl eye, some stickles and some pearl paint to accent them. You can see a peek of some more of the butterflies from Stamping cut from the page of an old book, inked and some adhesive pearls for the bodies.

I know how much refuge I find in my paper art and we are all artists...it truly does wash away the dust from the day. I love my little K&Co frames! The 3 'crystal' butterflies are actually from a floral pick by Modern Romance...I got them on clearance at M's in the bridal aisle.

My World has a fence I love to use on my layouts, it is embossed and distressed with ink. The flowers, leaves and branches are all from my Home Decor cart cut from a reversible paper by Paperbilities. I love the earwig font to add computer generated pieces of my title printed on off white paper in brown ink. I added some pearl paints to the edges of my flowers.

My circle and font is from Lyrical Letters, the scallop mat from Stamping and the mat behind the pix from A Child's Year. I placed my pix on the mat, tore the mat in half, punched holes and then laced the ribbon through...the ribbon continues into the branches on each side of the layout. I also added some pearl paint to the scallops on the mat.

K&Co Life's a Journey designer papers

DCWV Be Mine Stack (birds)

Paperpilities pink reversible papers

card stock in green, off white and tan

Modern Romance floral picks

Offray ribbon

Favorite Findings Golden Treasure buttons

Polymark white pearl iridescent paint

Ranger diamond stickles

Plaid water base craft stain in cherry for inking

Misc...brads and adhesive pearls

Cricut Carts:

Stamping

Lyrical Letters

A Child's Year

Home Decor

My World

Thanx for taking the time to stop by and take a look at this weeks challenge...hope you will hop on over to SOUS and see what the other DT members have created.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

This week has been a whirlwind! I have not been able to get out and about this week and leave comments in bloggy land and on the cricut mb so just wanted to send a hello to all of you. This is a sneaky peek of what I am working on for the SOUS challenge on Friday. I can't wait to get out there and see what all of you have been up to. In the meantime.....sending hugs your way! Hope you are all having a fabulous week....cya soon!

Sunday, January 17, 2010

My first thank you goes out toJudy....I won this wonderful MS punch in her recent blog candy giveaway and I received it yesterday.....I am so stinkin excited and can't wait to use it. Please check out Judy's blog....she has some amazing projects to share with us. Judyis super talented and very generous. She shares lots of links and cut files so hop on over and pay her a visit!

One of my super sweet blogging buddies passed this really awesome award to me. Terry should be a writer, her talent for expression is amazing along with her talent for creating. I am so blessed to have added her to my list of cyber friends, she has a kind heart and a gentle spirit.

Terry is one busy girl...she has a couple of blogs I would love for you to check out.....Tellen's Place is a wonderful challenge blog and has some really amazing digi images to share and a fantastic DT to inspire. Terry also has her personal blog, Challenger's Delightis where she shares all of her own great creations and a piece of herself with all of us. Challeger's Delight also shares some fun inspiring challenges. I hope you will pay each blog a visit a check out the wonderful creative mind of my sweet friend.

Now.... I am to list 10 things that knock my socks off and pass this to 3 blogs that do the same....I am going to color outside the lines a bit and pass it to 4. The four blogs I've chosen to pass to are all super talented ladies who have only recently started blogging....I want to tell them how happy I am that they have joined this wonderful world and how blessed I feel to have them in my life....

1. God...because no matter what life has in store He provides the reason for celebration or the strength to endure.

2. My Boyssss...because no matter what, being a mom is the greatest blessing God has given me.

3. My Mom...because she was my lifeboat.

4. YOU....because you are a part of my life that has become one of the greatest healing experiences I have ever had.

5. Scrapping....I love, love, love it!

6. SOUS....the blog and the DT have become a second family to me. I love the challenges each week and don't know what I would do without the constant friendship, support and encouragement from Sandi, Nanne and Leah.

7. Fridays....because I love the feeling of the week coming to an end, renting a movie, grabbing some snacks and hangin out with my sweet DS, Mcauley.

8. Snow days...because they make me feel like a kid again.

9. Memories...even the ones that bring tears to my eyes, because no one can take them away and each moment in my life has helped me become the person I am today.

10. My Cricut....and Mike for giving it to me last Christmas....it has opened up a whole new world for me.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Happy Friday! It's reveal day at SOUS and we have an amazing sketch by Liz Qualman http://lizqualman.blogspot.com/ . I absolutely loved doing this layout...the sketch was so wonderful to work with. I chose a picture of my oldest DS and myself on my very first Mothers Day. I love his sweet little tux and used it as the inspiration for my papers and colors. The red pattered paper is from the Winter Wonderland stack from K&Co. The b/w patterned papers are from Me&My Big Ideas. I also used some plain white, black, silver and red card stock and a page from an old book.The circle is cut from Lyrical Letters, marquees/rectangles A Child's Year, birds Home Decor, scallop Plantin, the tag and photo corners are from Sweethearts. The ribbon is from Offray and I have lots of misc bling and stickles all over the layout.

This flower was created by layering 2 each of 3", 2 1/2" and 2 inch blackout cuts of the snowflake from Home Accents. I dry brushed the edges of the flower with black acrylic paint and fastened it together with a brad. The little butterfly is the shadow cut from Stamping, I love using book pages to embellish my layouts and my cricut cuts them beautifully. I added some adhesive pearls for the body.

I have to give a crafty shout out to Barb (AKA CrafyGirly) @ http://barbcraft.blogspot.com/ she used these wonderful Life's A Beach flowers on her Cancun layout, when I saw them I knew a smaller version of them was just what I needed for this layout. They have some fun silver pearl centers and are surrounded by this lovely flourish from Home Decor.

The little chipboard frame is from Precious Paper www.preciouspaper.etsy.com and holds the quote, "A mother is she who can take the place of all others but whose place no one else can take."

This is one of the butterflies I created for the tutorial @ SOUS from the 1st of January. The red glittery feather is a clearance find from M's. I adore these little rosettes.... they are my version of the tutorial @ http://mycreativescrapbook.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=1743Instead of a punch I used the 7 petal flower from Home Decor on the shadow cut....I added ribbon and button centers, but the basic steps are the same. If you have never checked out any of Gabi's work I encourage you to, she is amazing and these were very simple to create.

Don't forget to check out what the rest of the DT came up with, their projects are fabulous.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Hello everyone and happy Sunday evening. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. We are headed back to school tomorrow after only 2 days last week following our long winter break....don't know how I'm going to get through a whole week....LOL...These pix are from last summer....some warm thoughts during these cold months. Mcauley makes me smile, he is such an entertainer. The background paper is K&Co....the brown is from a precious metals pack from M's....one side is dark and the other is metallic....I really like them....the off white is just card stock and the blue is the reverse of the background paper. I used the frame and border cut from Mickey and Friends....it was fun to use a lot of pix and the border cut was perfect for that.

The floral cut with the dragonfly along with the flourish is all from Home Decor. I used some buttons and stickles, fiber and ribbon. The K&Co mini frame holds a quote that I love....."Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain"....hence the title....I Hope You'll Dance.

The silhouette is from A Child's Year....I did not like the full length little boy with the umbrella so I welded the umbrella icon and the little boy holding the clover to get this cut and just trimmed the little clover leaves off.

This pic shows the dimension of the floral cut. I cut the shadow, base, and then individual pieces. I cut the separate pieces in two sizes....one slightly smaller and added inking and pop dots...buttons for the centers and some stickles.

The dragonfly was cut in two more smaller cuts and I added bling to all three to for the bodies....inking and stickles again. Part of the title is computer generated and the alpha's are from K&Co.....thanx for stopping by on this frosty night and my wish for each of you......I hope you dance!

Friday, January 8, 2010

Hey hey hey....and happy Friday. We are back to our regular weekly sketch at SOUS, this is a fab one by the talented Becky Fleck @ pagemaps.com. For this layout I wanted to use these wonderful pix of Mcauley I snapped at the beginning of the school year....he is growing up so fast....and has a 'future so bright....gotta wear shades'! These are once again K&Co papers, some plain card stock and pages from a book. I did some distressing and used some craft stain on the edges as well.

These sunglasses are cut from Ocean of Words, I find the educational carts have tons of fun cuts, lots of hidden little treasures. I used some of my fave lace accented with some bling. The Believe and butterfly brads were part of my Christmas scrappy goodness from my sis and are by EK success. I also added some buttons and wire.

I used 3 pix and did some cropping and enhancing in PhotoImpact. The 5x7 has a blurred edge, the 3x4 I made b/w and the 2x2 is from a larger pic.....I wanted to crop out almost everything but his face. I love the little lock and key charms I found at M's, I tied them with a bit of twine

My photo mats are cut from A Child's year and all the hearts are from Plantin. I really like the look of the mix of patterned papers and the pages from the book. The tiny dragonfly is another brad from EK.

The sun is cut from Graphically Speaking and the font from Lyrical Letters. The quote...."Walk toward the sunshine...the shadows will fall behind" is computer generated. I found it on one of my fave sites for quotes and titles....scrapbook.com.

It's so good to be back with the weekly sketch challenge....you have all been such faithful and encouraging followers...thanx so much for that~Hop on over to SOUS and check out the other designs from Sandi, Leah and Nanne.....can't wait to see what all of you come up with as well!

I want to thank all of you for leaving such touching comments on my blog. Tears literally come to my eyes when I read them. Your thoughts, prayers, and support are so dearly appreciated....you have all become such a wonderful part of my scrappy life....I look forward to everything 2010 has in store for all of us!

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Good day ladies....This is another page for the album of Me...another promise to myself in the new year. I am a big worrier and I try very hard to let go and let God....this is one of the things I used to say to my mom...a big worrier too....Don't count sheep, talk to the shepherd....so when I wake at night and my mind is full of thoughts that I cannot control....I promise to give it to God and pray about it. I know he can do lots more with it than I can.

All of the patterned papers are from the K&Co classic stack, I used some chalking and stickles to add some depth to the cuts. The sheep are from Paper Doll Dress Up....

The font is from Winter Woodlands, the clouds from Zoobaloo. I added some lace along the left side of the pic and a bit of silver lining to the clouds. The frame for sheep is from Paper Doll Dress Up...the extra stars are from Plantin.

I used Sandi's emery board distressing technique on the marquee mats....love how they came out...the computer generated words are Ba tang and I simply cut the paper randomly around the letters. The moon and stars are also Paper Doll Dress Up.

My tree is from Stamping, the shepherds hook and fence are from Paper Doll Dress Up....I cut the end of the fence from the one on the cart. My mats are from Storybook.....Hope you are all having a great weekend.....I hope to get lots of scrapping done so see ya soon....Thanx so much for stopping by!